Annie's death certificate says she died of pneumonia which she had for 10 days and with a contributing cause of epilepsy which she had had for 2 years. It is said that Annie fixed up a little drawer of her belongings before she died and that her mother would not allow anyone to touch this after her death. Her brother, Ernie, remembered that she had long beautiful hair that was draped over the casket when she was laid out in the family home. The Livermore Herald newpaper dated March 13, 1920 reported her death: "Dies after Ilness of Year- Annie, the 10 year old daughter of Manuel P. Vargas, who farms the old Gleese place in Collier Canyon, died Tuesday. She had been ill for about a year, the immediate cause of death being convulsions."

An account from the memory of Annie's sister Rosalie, who would have been 7 years old at the time of Annie's death, related by her daugher Charlotte in 2005: Anne and mom were very close, as mom puts it, "she and I were partners." It was a big blow to mom when she died. It took her quite awhile to get over her death. This all verified by grandma.

Both grandma and mom have always said that the day Anne died, she went into a seisure and never came out. She had been having seisures all week. Both mom and grandma said that it was the worst ever, Anne having bouts of seisures everyday and then sleeping only to wake up and have another bout of seisures. The seisures killed her. They never mentioned pneumonia.
Family said that Annie was buried in the area behind St Joseph's Church, but there is no marker for this grave. Elsie Vargas Anderson, her sister, believed that she may have been buried with her aunts, Mary and Louise, sisters of her mother. They however are buried in the cemetery on the hill...so Annie might also be there.
Copyright Susan Vargas Murphy. All rights reserved.